Platoon (1986)

A young soldier in Vietnam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writer:

Oliver Stone

Stars:

Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe

Top Rated Movies #187 | Won 4 Oscars. Another 19 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Berenger	...	Sgt. Barnes
Keith David	...	King
Willem Dafoe	...	Sgt. Elias
Forest Whitaker	...	Big Harold
Francesco Quinn	...	Rhah
Kevin Dillon	...	Bunny
John C. McGinley	...	Sgt. O'Neill
Reggie Johnson	...	Junior
Mark Moses	...	Lt. Wolfe
Corey Glover	...	Francis
Johnny Depp	...	Lerner
Chris Pedersen	...	Crawford
Bob Orwig	...	Gardner
Corkey Ford	...	Manny
David Neidorf	...	Tex

Storyline

Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon.

---

Plot Keywords:

vietnam war | vietnam | 1960s | gore | afi | 

---

Taglines:

The first casualty of war is innocence.

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Vietnamese

Release Date:

6 February 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Platoon

Filming Locations:

Luzon, Philippines

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$241,080, 21 December 1986, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$138,530,565

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hemdale,Cinema 86

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bunny tries to encourage Junior by saying "You're hanging out with Audie Murphy here my man!". Audie Murphy was one of the most decorated American soldiers of World War II. He received the Medal of Honor, and at least 32 other medals during his war-career. Murphy became a household name after he was featured on the cover of Life Magazine in 1945, and his subsequent movie roles.

---

Goofs

When King is getting ready to board the helicopter to take him back to the rear before the final battle, he places two 100 round belts of M-60 ammo over his shoulder and chest. In reality, he would not be taking ammo back to the rear with him. The soldiers in the field would have taken it for use in a future enemy encounter. He, also, had a water proof bag in his hand that he would not have carried like a laundry bag in the field. It would have been inside his rucksack.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Pvt. Gardner: [seeing body bags] Oh, man. Is that what I think it is?
Sergeant: All right, you cheese-dicks, welcome to the Nam. Follow me!

---

Connections

Spoofed in Small Soldiers (1998)

---

Soundtracks

ADAGIO FOR STRINGS
Written by Samuel Barber
Arranged and Conducted by Georges Delerue
Used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc.

User Reviews

One Of The Best Movies Of The 1980s

The 1980s in general and the mid 1980s in particular aren't highly regarded where pop culture is concerned , this is most especially true in cinema where films seemed to be written around their soundtrack in much the same way as Hollywood movies nowadays seem to be written around their special effects . PLATOON is one of the very few films from that period that has an emotional impact , an impact that it still retains while watching it in 2003.

Everyone else seems to have mentioned what makes PLATOON a classic anti-war ( Note it's anti-war , not anti American or anti soldier ) movie along with being a classic movie , so I won't go over old ground except to say THAT death scene is up there with all the other tear jerking scenes from 20th century cinema , don't be ashamed to say you cried

If PLATOON has a flaw it's in its duality , there's the good Sarge/bad Sarge , good officer/bad officer , good white guy/bad white guy , good black guy/bad black boy etc which is maybe a bit clichéd and possibly leads me to believe Stone is making an excuse/reason that the Americans lost in Vietnam because that spent so much fighting each other rather than the VC ( Though I do concede I'm possibly misinterpreting that as an excuse or even a reason since no one will confuse the politics of Stone with the politics of John Wayne ) while Taylor's character comes across as being more of a literary device rather than a real human being , but these are minor flaws

It's a shame to see war films from the last few years devoid of scathing anti-war sentiments like the ones seen here . PLATOON screams at you " War is hell and whatever the rights and wrongs of conflict you need a bloody good reason to wage war . Vietnam wasn't a good enough reason to sacrifice human lives "